<p>My son’s class played a similar stock game and I was horrified. I view equities as part of a person’s long-term savings. By judging the outcome over such a short period, it was encouraging the kids to become the equivalent of day-traders or gamblers, in my view. When I questioned the kids, including my son, about why they had chosen one investment over another, it was for ridiculously shallow reasons such as recent historical performance. I would rather see kids experiment (using fake money) with different asset allocations than making individual stock picks. Exchange traded funds are easy to follow. As for learning, your group may want to follow some of the weekly columns rather than tackling a book. Moneychimp comes to mind as a good site.</p>
<p>Kids may find it fun to interview local “business people” and ask how they got into their careers–undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees, lessons learned. Ask about intern opportunities. Your group could put together a reference book and build up additional information over time.</p>
<p>Finally, any activity the group does to enhance Excel skills will give the kids a leg up when they do start those business internships.</p>